Futures show modest gains ahead of jobs report

As investors on Wall Street wait to see if 195,000 new non-farm jobs were created in March, major market index futures showed modest gains.

Here’s where major market index futures stood before the start of regular trading, Friday:

Dow : Up 0.1%

S&P 500: Up 0.2%

Nasdaq composite: Up 0.2%

This is where stocks wound up on Thursday, ending a four-day winning streak:

Dow: Down 0.45 points, or flat, to 16,572.55, just shy of its Dec. 31, 2013, record close of 16,576.66

S&P 500: Lost 2.13 points, or 0.11%, to 1,888.77, just off Wednesday’s record close of 1,890.90

Nasdaq composite: Down 38.72, or 0.91%, to 4237.74

Several economic forecasts have predicted Friday’s Labor Department jobs report will reveal an improved labor market that suffered during the brutal winter weather. 195,000 new non-farm jobs is the anticipated number, which would bring unemployment to 6.6%, from 6.7%.